


Erebor Water Systems

by TexasDreamer01



Series: Erebor Engineering [2]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Dwarves, Embedded Images, Engineering, Erebor, Headcanon, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-02 10:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10942404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TexasDreamer01/pseuds/TexasDreamer01
Summary: Erebor's splendour is only possible with careful design, and first up is how they manage the most important of resources - water.





	1. Features

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first follow-up to my commentary on [bagginvinshield's tumblr post](http://texasdreamer01.tumblr.com/post/121177889400/motherfuckingbagginshield-inja-y-ddraig) about Erebor’s technology, and briefly reiterates some of the ideas in my commentary there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr reblog link](http://texasdreamer01.tumblr.com/post/159649294455/erebor-water-system)

These are some the main points I’ve determined necessary for bare-bones water management of a society living in such a resource-isolated place like Erebor. Currently, this chapter serves as a rough draft for further elaboration in this work.

As mentioned in my commentary, the hypothesis that the River Running not only runs underneath Erebor, but is also the driving force behind Erebor’s ability to comfortably host potentially tens of thousands of people in architectural splendor as the capital of the Dwarven state is a completely viable one.

Behind every great city, however, is a great waste management system toiling away in the background. The best-made systems, in my experience, are the ones nobody notices - or better yet, double their function as a veritable work of art. In this case, I seek to not only give Erebor’s water system those two functions, but many more.

With the constantly-circulating water this is a closed system that, if designed and maintained correctly, can support multiple uses. Having not only a method of disposal for _all_ waste, but temperature control, electricity production, food supply opportunities, and social spaces in an aesthetically-pleasing manner means that dwarves can expend more effort on doing other things.

Of course, something this extensive would require a lot of manpower (dwarf-power?) in order to keep things running smoothly. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it provides a plethora of job opportunities, and if this is both well-designed and well-maintained, then people can be spared to multi-task either different jobs or different parts of the system.


	2. Pipe Systems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The purpose of using pipes is to transport a medium from point A to point B (and frequently to point C, point D, etc). Here, I will be discussing the transportation of water and media that rely on water as a main component. This is more commonly known as “plumbing,” but as this mini-series expands upon pipe usage beyond sanitation, it will be moderately interchangeable with “piping” and “pipe system.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Tumblr reblog link](http://texasdreamer01.tumblr.com/post/160894243505/erebor-pipe-systems)

Since pipes are designed to deliver materials in one direction, pit-stops for the processing of said materials notwithstanding, there needs to be delegation on which pipes carry what. Wastewater is, by its very definition, _already_ differentiated from regular water.

That doesn’t mean that clean water must be pure, straight-from-the-source, however - properly treated wastewater is able to rejoin water sourced from the River Running.

### Clean

“Clean” is a relative term; here, I mean either unmodified from the source, or cleaned to a high enough standard to prevent the spread of diseases. Even if dwarves are inherently resistant to many things, an immune system only goes so far, something which is dependent upon the weakest parties in a community - in this case, the usual grouping of children, elderly, and infirm.

Technically, “potable” could be used to describe this type of water, but your mileage may vary on that. This water is destined for many more uses than simply drinking. Its level of quality, however, is the same no matter its destination in Erebor.

##### From the River Running

Water brought up from the River Running via an Archimedean screw, specifically the portion of the river that passes underneath Erebor. As it is untreated, that means it carries all the usual suspects within the water - trace minerals, the occasional flora, and whatever sediment that the screw and river themselves doesn’t automatically filter out.

The likelihood of diseases from this water is vastly lower than it would be to our standards, if only because immunity via contact is mostly unavoidable (and I reckon dwarves have a sturdy enough immune system to deal with a few water-borne bacteria - alas, that is a quibble for another time).

Pollution, as well, is greatly reduced in probability. Having a present and active pantheon watching over Middle Earth achieves much in this regard, especially with physical representatives in the form of the Istari to mediate bad habits like irreverent dumping of waste is nigh-on stomped out. Theoretically.

##### Recycled water

Water that has been thoroughly processed to the point that there are either _no_  or _negligible_  contaminants. This is wastewater that has been put through several steps to decontaminate and filter.

 

### Unclean

The dirty, dirty truth of unclean water is that it’s been already used. Luckily for us, there are varying degrees of “unclean” that determine how this wastewater is regarded. Describing these systems as “plumbing” would be both accurate and precise.

##### Greywater

Water that has been used, but has _few_ contaminants. Greywater _can_  be reused, but only a few times. The pipes for this waste water _can_  rejoin the clean pipe system before being treated - frequently to the pipe system that ends up producing blackwater.

Here are the facilities that produce/use greywater:

##### Blackwater

Water that has been used, and has _many_  contaminants. The main distinction between greywater and this is literally only contact with fecal matter (I did tell you this would be dirty). Blackwater _cannot_  be reused, and must go straight to water treatment. The pipes for this waste water _cannot_  rejoin any other pipe system before being treated.

Here are the facilities that produce - but not use! - blackwater:

  * Toilets
  * Laundry



An important note to make is that these facilities can use greywater. This is one of the few methods by which wastewaters can mix, but only ever in one direction (greywater -> blackwater).

### Semi-Independent

This is a unique category of pipe system. While it still participates in Erebor’s water system as a whole, it does have some features that marginally seclude it from the rest. Below are the categories applicable:

  * Aquaponics
  * Industrial



Both of these areas are connected to the clean pipe system, but their wastewater does _not_  join either unclean water system.

Aquaponics relies on a delicate balance with their water that can only be maintained within their system - its wastewater being treated would flush valuable nutrients away that would negatively affect its ability to grow food.

The industrial area is comprised of the wastewater of many guilds, and has sub-separations accordingly. Many industrial function rely on water to produce their product, from mining all the way to textiles, and has unique pollutants that have the potential to poison the main water supply. As such, the water will need to be treated to a guild’s needs, and may either become a partially-closed system much like aquaponics or need sanitation prior to rejoining the main wastewater system.

One area that I’m considering as industrial is medical. This seems a bit counter-intuitive, but there are a few reasons for this. First is that a disease likely has already spread before a patient gets treated, and second is that they would need to self-sanitize as much as possible _before_ anything gets dumped down the drains. Lastly, medical services would likely need to function as a guild, if only because of the same expected standardization of knowledge and regulation of product - that, however, is outside the bounds of this series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In retrospect, I realized it probably would have been a good idea to describe the pipes themselves (whoops). I'll be getting to that later once I'm done with this mini-series.

**Author's Note:**

> This series will be posted first on tumblr under the tag #Erebor Engineering. Drop a line on my [tumblr](texasdreamer01.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
